Vietnam’s top leader yesterday arrived in China for a three-day visit, which the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said would include meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強).
Vietnamese President To Lam, who was elevated this month to the nation’s top position, general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, arrived in Guangzhou, state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) reported.
The state visit marks Lam’s first after taking office, which China said “fully reflects the great importance he attaches to the development of ties between both parties and countries.”
Photo: Reuters
Lam is to visit some Chinese locations where former Vietnamese president Ho Chi Minh conducted revolutionary activities while in Guangzhou, CCTV said.
China and Vietnam forged diplomatic ties in 1950. In 2008, both countries established a comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation that was jointly fortified in 2013 to address more shared international and regional issues of concern.
The meeting would confirm the close ties between the two communist-run neighbors, which have well-developed economic and trade relations, despite occasionally clashing over boundaries in the energy-rich South China Sea.
China painted Lam’s visit as taking Xi’s trip to Vietnam in December last year a step further, citing “a good start” to the building of a “China-Vietnam community of shared future that carries strategic significance” when the Chinese foreign ministry announced the trip.
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